Ad of the Day: Nascar

Nascar isn't just a bunch of dudes driving heavily branded stock cars around in circles.

It's also a bunch of dudes spinning out, flipping and smashing those heavily branded stock cars in spectacular crashes. It's also dudes threatening to punch each other in the face, and dudes getting really bummed out about losing and really excited about winning. Occasionally, it's not even dudes doing all this stuff (though mostly it is).

This is "Twist," the first of five new English-language spots (plus four additional versions in Spanish) for the popular racing association. The first work for the brand from Ogilvy, it's also part of what Nascar is calling its first ever fully integrated campaign, which debuts on TV this Sunday during the sport's biggest North American race, the Daytona 500.

Overall, the spot seems to answer the brief, "Make people think this sport isn't boring." The defensive posture isn't surprising, given the sport's declining popularity in recent years. It does an pretty good job of condensing myriad little dramas into a 60-second spot—and playing up the rubbernecking aspect of the sport, which may help give Nascar an edgier sheen for the youth demographic it's trying to reach.

Whether it's enough to stop Nascar from hemorrhaging viewers at live events and on TV is another question. The ad doesn't show much that isn't already familiar. The most insightful bit might be that the events aren't as fleeting as they seem—that drivers spend years working to get where they are, a fact generally eclipsed by the quick thrills of the sport. The nods to gender equality and patriotism feel almost obligatory. In short, it's all very ambitious, and tightly contrived, but doesn't quite turn the corner into something moving.

Plus, closing the loop at the end by inverting the ad's opening line—"For every turn, a twist" becomes "For every twist, there's a turn"—might not do the message any favors. As it turns out, Nascar is just a bunch of dudes driving heavily branded stock cars in circles.

Nascar isn't just a bunch of dudes driving heavily branded stock cars around in circles.

It's also a bunch of dudes spinning out, flipping and smashing those heavily branded stock cars in spectacular crashes. It's also dudes threatening to punch each other in the face, and dudes getting really bummed out about losing and really excited about winning. Occasionally, it's not even dudes doing all this stuff (though mostly it is).

This is "Twist," the first of five new English-language spots (plus four additional versions in Spanish) for the popular racing association. The first work for the brand from Ogilvy, it's also part of what Nascar is calling its first ever fully integrated campaign, which debuts on TV this Sunday during the sport's biggest North American race, the Daytona 500.

Overall, the spot seems to answer the brief, "Make people think this sport isn't boring." The defensive posture isn't surprising, given the sport's declining popularity in recent years. It does an pretty good job of condensing myriad little dramas into a 60-second spot—and playing up the rubbernecking aspect of the sport, which may help give Nascar an edgier sheen for the youth demographic it's trying to reach.

Whether it's enough to stop Nascar from hemorrhaging viewers at live events and on TV is another question. The ad doesn't show much that isn't already familiar. The most insightful bit might be that the events aren't as fleeting as they seem—that drivers spend years working to get where they are, a fact generally eclipsed by the quick thrills of the sport. The nods to gender equality and patriotism feel almost obligatory. In short, it's all very ambitious, and tightly contrived, but doesn't quite turn the corner into something moving.

Plus, closing the loop at the end by inverting the ad's opening line—"For every turn, a twist" becomes "For every twist, there's a turn"—might not do the message any favors. As it turns out, Nascar is just a bunch of dudes driving heavily branded stock cars in circles.